One way entities such as companies typically distribute their computing resources is by using a centralized manager model. Information such as where on the distributed system resources can be found is maintained on a (typically single) master node. Unfortunately, such configurations can be expensive. The centralized manager typically requires robust hardware, and also requires careful and attentive administration. This is so because, while the resources may be distributed across multiple nodes, such as for redundancy and reliability purposes, if the master node becomes unavailable, so too does its index. One of the purposes of peer-to-peer technology is to mitigate the problems associated with the single point of failure that a centralized manager model presents. Unfortunately, peer-to-peer configurations are typically not suitable for corporate or other business computing use because they tend to lack the ability to maintain data security and similar management features.